General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhat the GOP is really afraid of (re: the shutdowns)
For the first time in a long time, the United States dramatically expanded the social safety net. Workers are seeing expanded unemployment benefits, there are postponed bill payments for many creditors, rent is being reduced and postponed.The government gave people checks to help, and there's a whole host of other mechanisms in place to help the middle class. It's far from perfect and millions are still suffering, but what this is is Americans tasting the fruits of their labor for the first time in a long time. Some call it socialism, I might call it fairer capitalism.
This money, the extra $600 for UE, the $1200 stimulus, the expanded benefits, every dime of it was created by labor. It is the people's money, we created it, we created all of this wealth. We are getting a taste of the wealth that we created.
And that's where the outrage from the GOP is coming from, they can never let labor enjoy the fruits of their work. In their minds, we only work so the wealthy can get richer. Showing Americans what a more robust social safety net is cannot be allowed to continue, they fear that people might demand this going forward. Demand unemployment benefits that our labor paid for to continue to be enough to live on. Demand that the lowest wages are higher than those unemployment benefits. Demand fair wages and benefits, demand our fair share in other words.
And they fear that the shutting down of the rat race will make Americans consume less. People all over the country are realizing the value in saving, the value in slowing down, and the value in not being so driven every day.
The entire house of cards is crashing down. Americans are getting to see what their country should be like, Republicans are horrified we will not want to go back to being their slaves.
UpInArms
(51,284 posts)trumps kids go to work in the packing houses
Bettie
(16,110 posts)in the prison laundry or kitchen.
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)uponit7771
(90,347 posts)... thought people should go back to work.
Johnny2X2X
(19,066 posts)That's pretty remarkable really. What they are upset with is that low income people got the extra $600 a week in unemployment that the Dems fought so hard for. The powers organizing this cannot handle the fact that some poor people might get ahead in this.
doc03
(35,344 posts)to starve the country for decades. Now with CIVID 19
somehow the government can come up with trillions to bail out business. They have been hammering on SS about it going broke while it has a 1 1/2 trillion dollar trust fund. The PBGC has far more obligations than assets and
people with multi employer pensions are losing their pensions or they are being cut. But the government can't come up with the money they promised
when they created the program. It's the government's fault the PBGC is broke in the first place. They don't force companies to fund their pensions so eventually the PBGC has to take them over.
I have a defined benefit plan myself. The administrator of the plan sends a report every year. I have been retired for ten years and every year the percentage of obligations to assets have dropped. Once the percentage drops so far the PBGC has to take over the plan and the company will walk free and we pay the price.
usaf-vet
(6,188 posts)....spend, spend, spend when they are in power INCREASING THE NATIONAL DEBT. Then they scream, scream, scream about the DEBT when Democrats are in power.
Watch this YouTube to understand this republican long ongoing strategy.
JudyM
(29,251 posts)JudyM
(29,251 posts)expenses before they are allowed to do any stock buybacks or anything else that empties their till.
Just as we wee folk are expected to put away several months earnings for a rainy day, companies who are operating in the public trust should have these social obligations.
Alacritous Crier
(3,816 posts)and spot on!
Bernardo de La Paz
(49,002 posts)smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)C Moon
(12,213 posts)bucolic_frolic
(43,176 posts)you question the value of what you produce for the company and realize you're being paid a fraction of what you're worth or they wouldn't employ you. And you have to do what they say. So you resolve, in true American fashion, to strike out on your own at the first available chance. The system has run on cheap, dumb labor who had no other choice. Now with internet, widely available information, cheap capital, one can work for oneself with a bit of ingenuity.
Though I might add, taxpayers didn't put up a dime. The Fed created the money with the click of a mouse. Money is no longer tied to anything.
malaise
(269,039 posts)The death of neo-liberalism
DBoon
(22,366 posts)once called "The Great Society"
mountain grammy
(26,623 posts)We can only hope.
Johnny2X2X
(19,066 posts)They cannot stand it that poor people are getting a reasonable amount to live on. The fact that unemployment right now for millions pays more than their jobs did is an absolute damning indictment of how much of a low wage economy we have right now.
We have the richest country in human history and millions of workers can't even have a modicum of security in their lives because the rich have taken it all.
$15 minimum wage is a start, but it absolutely should be $20 right now or more and should be pegged to CPI. This country can more than afford that if people are allowed to share in the wealth their labor created.
mountain grammy
(26,623 posts)It's unbelievable that the cutoff for a stimulus is $75,000 and 80% of Americans qualify. It's all at the top.
Johnny2X2X
(19,066 posts)It should be close, the wealth in this country is unrivaled. If we simply had a system that allowed people to keep most of the wealth that their labor created, the American dream would be alive and well for everyone.
mountain grammy
(26,623 posts)it was called UNIONS! But people can be suckered and manipulated. Both my sons work in union shops and half the men they work with went for Trump. Go figure..
Very few in the American working class gets anything without fighting for it..
ProfessorGAC
(65,061 posts)Unsurprisingly, li'l Linz didn't think this through.
You dummy, Graham. CV just could make it over your dead body!
PoliWrangler
(139 posts)PatrickforO
(14,576 posts)Without workers there can be NO profits. Ever.
ooky
(8,924 posts)Trumpers think even Mnuchin's $120 per week "subsistence" is an outrage.
This is how they have been programmed.
Johnny2X2X
(19,066 posts)They love it when the rich or big business get millions for free. It's only regular people they think should have to pull themselves up by their bootstraps.
ooky
(8,924 posts)Worship the rich as the giving tree for the rest of the herd, in keeping with the trickle down LIE. And believe that you too got a tax break along with the rich guys, even though you still don't actually have any more disposable income than you did before. (I have yet to meet a Trumper who will admit he didn't get anything from the tax scam. They either "think" or "feel" that they are "better off".)
Buckeye_Democrat
(14,855 posts)And they love to stir up trouble among the lower class, getting them to fight among themselves.
Pepsidog
(6,254 posts)to expand the social safety net and reform the tax code. Transformational change is coming if we have the courage to see it through.
I_UndergroundPanther
(12,480 posts)And I hope nothing goes back to business as it was. I hope the 1% and the republicans are seen as the pig parasites they are and the people decide they are worth more and they embrace dignity and would not tolerate working with no fruits of thier labor. The man on the box needs to be thrown away
(Derrick Jensen's Parable of the Box Google it)
Victor_c3
(3,557 posts)Tax the wealthy and the corporations to pay for it and give everyone a universal basic income.
People at the bottom will have more money to spend and wealth will trickle up to the top, like it should.
The best thing we can do for business and our economy is to make sure were all able to purchase the very goods we produce.